Switched
by TheLiteratureLieutenant
Summary: An OC story. Spoiler-free (probably.) No cover right now, would need an artist's interpretation later on in the story, so if you're willing to do so, you can PM it to me.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So before I get into the story, yes, this is an OC story, sort of like a biography, but with Pixar magic injected into it. The person the emotions inhabit will not be perfect, but I'm going to try to make him likable, while somehow making him like me (hear that? That's going to be personified.) Enjoy the story!**

* * *

It was a normal day in the life of Noah Sanders and his emotions. Joy was sleeping in, per usual, and Disgust was already sat at the couch, where she was likely to spend the entire day. She was flipping through the pages of The Mind Reader, criticizing the font and how it's "hard to read without a microscope." Really, the font was perfect, but Disgust hasn't had much to be disgusted over lately, so she was trying to fill in the gap with fake criticism. (familiar?)

Sadness was at the console, moping over 'the first day of 9th grade and how awful it's going to be;' this would be the part where Joy steps in, but she tried that for over 2 years and it hadn't worked, so she just gave up last Summer.

Anger is standing off to the side, clutching Fear by the shoulders, intimidatingly calm. "Fear, it is very important that you don't make Noah look like an idiot in the halls. Otherwise, well, remember 8th grade?"

At this, Fear shudders and frantically nods. "I-I'll try and stay away from the console."

"That's a good boy," Anger says, letting go of Fear and stepping towards the console.

"So, Sadness, what's been happening out there?" Anger prods casually as he approaches the console.

Keeping her eyes on the monitor, Sadness replies, "Well, we seem to have everything ready for school, but we probably forgot something." Sadness pushes a button on the console so that Noah reminds himself of this. "Put that memory in high priority so we can keep it in the back of our head at all times," Sadness said, pointing to the blue-red memory that just rolled in through the side. "We'll need it to mock ourselves later."

"Can't argue there," Anger said, shrugging, as he brought the memory to the console, laying it in a little dent in the surface designed for holding memories. Anger was quite satisfied they were using it, considering Anger 'made it' himself. The memory fit perfectly into the dent, and Anger took a step back, admiring his work.

"Ooh, Dad went out and got bagels. Toast that, throw some butter on it and we've got a good breakfast," Disgust said casually, flipping through The Mind Reader, the headline being 'Noah Sanders Part Jewish.' Anger laughed at the harmless stereotype.

"Maybe once we stop stuffing our face with bagels, we can check our email," Sadness said somewhat bitterly, which took the other three by surprise.

"Sadness! Did you really just say that?" Fear worried, shocked enough to stop pacing from the back of Headquarters.

Sadness kept a hard glare on the monitor, but it softened somewhat. "Huh, I don't know. I'm sure it's nothing." Sadness managed a rare smile when she suddenly reminded herself of Joy, almost like when- erm, not now. Sadness would rather not have that memory plague her mind. No one seemed to notice, but a single strand of Sadness' blue, shaggy hair turned black.

Any sort of conversation, however, was interrupted when the handlebars on the console moved forward of their own accord. As Noah opened the cupboard and reached for a cup, Anger groaned, "This again?"

Disgust yelled sarcastically from the back, "Gee, I wonder what we're drinking!"

"You know, this addiction is not healthy. 'One cup a day,' Mom would say, but no, we have to drown ourselves in sugar and caffeine." Anger continued to rant as Noah grabbed a Pepsi 2-liter bottle out of the fridge.

"I'll try and have him stem the flow early," Sadness said, pulling back a lever gently. Suddenly, a strange PA System sounded from out of nowhere, one that was never heard before.

"Save some for the rest of America, fatty," The hidden speaker blared harshly. Sadness, with the other emotions, stared in shock as Noah stopped pouring about halfway empty.

"Hey Sadness, I know that you love leading, but criticizing him is my job," Anger said, looking awestruck at the pudgy blue girl standing to his right.

Sadness was just as astonished. "I mean, I wasn't even trying. Hey, can someone wake Joy up? I really think Noah should feel good for that."

Disgust chuckled from the couch behind Sadness. "The beast is awake when she feels like it," Disgust chuckled some more before going back to The Mind Reader, the headline now reading 'Shortage of Sugar and Sunshine.' Meanwhile, Anger is noticing something... different with Sadness. He can't quite put his finger on it, but she seems different. Even as he searched for what was wrong with Sadness, the sleeves of Anger's white T-shirt elongated slightly.

"The beast is awake," replies a groggy Joy, trudging down the steps in her green hoodie and jeans. She lets out a huge yawn and chuckles, "and that's my roar." The others looked back, surprised at Joy's early awakening.

"Wow, Joy, you're usually not awake until noon," said an amazed Sadness.

"Well, after taking my Summer-long hiatus, I've decided to get back into action. So what can I do this morning? Make him excited for school? Help him make friends?"

Sadness looked to the console guiltily, "Well, Noah rationed his Pepsi, so I think he needs a little encouragement there. About friends though..."

"What if we mess this up? What if we become the school freak like at Warner and East? We can't be the school freak, Joy. We're spending the next 4 years with these people! OH GOD, WE'RE GOING TO LITERALLY DIE OF EMBARRASSMENT!" Fear screamed, running frantically around Headquarters. Despite Anger being eager to punch Fear in the face in order to stop him, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for Fear. No one seemed to notice as a small hood appeared on the back of the shirt. Anger looked with mild sympathy as Fear writhed on the floor. He recovered soon enough and locked his eyes on Anger.

"Wow, Anger; I've never seen you look like that at me before," Fear gazed up as Anger caught himself and glared hard at Fear.

"It's called pity. You wouldn't know, considering you have no one to pity for." Anger said, forced hate seeping within each word.

"Still a hard-ass, though," Fear replied and chuckled sheepishly. Anger looked at Fear, but didn't really feel like punching him. In fact, he sort of took Fear's words personally. He didn't show it, though; he would've been awful at his job if he did. He just grumbled and waddled back to the console, his black shorts elongating to his upper calves.

Meanwhile, Noah was now sat down and eating his breakfast, two buttered bagel halves. Joy pushed a few buttons, savoring the great taste, and sat down at the couch with Disgust. "So what's going on outside of Headquarters?" she casually asked, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

"Oh, well, it looks like that whole trial about masturbation is still going on in the Moral Court. Other than that, not too much."

Joy closed her eyes, satisfied with the little bit of news. A content smile faded, however, as Disgust kept talking.

"Isn't masturbation so gross, though? It's not even worth it when it's done. Noah feels good for five seconds, and then there's sticky liquids all over him."

Joy opened her eyes and leaned forward, looking at Disgust quizzically. "Really? Are you even aware of what I do for Noah?"

Disgust smirked, "Yeah, you showed us last night when you were rolling all over the console."

Joy's eyes widened, and she sat back, not willing to go further into the argument. That's when Fear came into the conversation.

"Doesn't it make hair grow on your hands or something?" Fear said, genuinely worried.

The other two emotions laughed (one more than the other,) and Disgust, who finished laughing first, sought to correct Fear. "No, Fear, that's just a myth. You don't actually grow hair on your hands. I'd make us stop if that were the case, pleasurable or not," Joy gave Disgust the evil eye. "What? I just don't want to look like a werewolf. The shedding would be awful!"

Joy laughed at the increasing ridiculousness of the situation. "I think I understand the premise of Teen Wolf," she joked, and the three erupted into laughter.

"Ohmygod, Noah needs to get in on this," Joy said, hopping up from the couch and rushing to the idea bowl, searching through the giant pile of bulbs before finally finding the joke. She then just as quickly rushed to the console and stuck the idea bulb into its respective slot. Noah took it into account and chuckled a little. Joy, a smile of satisfaction on her face, looked at the two emotions to her right, noticing Sadness' mixed hair color. "Hey, I like what you did with your hair, Sadness. Though black isn't the best color to match with blue. Can I get some back-up on that, Disgust?"

Disgust looked up from his newspaper, "Honestly, I don't even know," she said, eliciting a chuckle from Joy. Sadness, however, had a different expression; she was very confused.

"What are you talking about?" Sadness asked quizzically. It would be an understatement to say she was perplexed.

"You know, hair color. There's like this streak of black in it, and I quite like it. Still, though, could have done a different color," Joy rambled on, only succeeding in confusing Sadness even more.

Anger joined the conversation, "You know, I was thinking something was different about you, so that definitely clears things up." Sadness is still confused, but then notices something about Anger.

"Anger, you usually just wear a t-shirt and shorts, right?" Sadness queried, her full attention on her colleagues.

"How would I not? It's like 200 degrees in this place," Anger said, fanning his face.

"I wonder why," Disgust mumbled sarcastically. Anger let it seem as if he didn't hear it.

"In fact, if you look at my outfit, I'm currently wearing-wait, what? This is not what I put on this morning," Anger looked, confused, at the hoodie and sweatpants he would never think to wear in a million years.

"Something's going on, Joy, and I don't want to wait around and see what happens," Fear joined in, walking into the conversation, "We need to figure out what's happening."

Joy was skeptical, to say the least. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. It's completely harmle-"

"Joy?" Sadness spoke, catching Joy off guard; very rarely does Sadness interrupt anyone, especially Joy. "I really think we should get to the bottom of this."

Joy stood there, a contemplative expression conquering her face, before she seemed to reach a conclusion. "Well, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if we looked into it. Only question is, how do we figure this out?"

Disgust stood up from the couch and walked over to the console, "Well, while you guys were talking, I was making connections between Anger and Sadness, and I noticed that the two seem to be transforming in some convoluted way, and probably not for the better."

"What?! That's absurd! Surely there's some sort of explanation for this?" Fear reasoned.

"Well, there's always the manuals," Disgust said, shrugging.

"Great idea, Disgust! Why don't you get cracking while we help Noah? You always say you never have anything to do, so... there's a thing to do!" Joy exclaimed jubilantly, motioning towards the library in the back, where the manuals are kept. Disgust groaned a little, reluctant to do any actual sort of work on someone's orders, but she did eventually trudge to the back.

"Well, until he finds an answer to all of this, I suppose we just go about our day. How about we follow tradition?" Joy asked as Noah made his way to the couch, willing to sneak in 15 minutes of sleep before taking a shower.

"You know, we could use this time to wake ourselves up instead of sleeping it out. I heard that this kind of sleep isn't the kind of sleep that is effective for rest." Sadness said, a thoughtful look on her face, her eyes squinted and her lips pursed slightly, "Maybe I should tell him that we can do better with our time..."

Joy quickly slapped Sadness' hand as it reached for a button. "Sadness, we can't run the risk of you changing more. Please, do this for Noah."

Sadness looked indignant, and wasn't afraid to show it. "Why should I do this for Noah? Is it my fault he's a fatty and an insomniac?" Sadness tries to reach for the console again, but Joy holds Sadness back from the console.

"Anger, Fear, can you guys watch Sadness? I don't like the idea of a 'Circle of Sadness,' but we might need to go to that if things get too far." Fear and Anger take Sadness, but neither like the idea.

"Joy, it didn't work in Inside Out and it won't work now," Fear, struggling to hold Sadness back, who was uncharacteristically ferocious, "I don't think this Sadness will oblige to standing in a corner on someone's orders." He gasped, losing a little of his grip on Sadness. "You don't think she's going rogue, do you?"

Joy thought for a second, a worried expression covering his face. "We can't be too sure right now, so let's not act on that front yet. However, we can try to possibly call up some materials and make a makeshift cage, just in case."

The idea of a cage seemed to magically tame Sadness. She released himself from the arms of Anger and Fear and visibly tried to calm himself down. Once she was totally calm, she went over to the couch and sat down, her hands in his laps. Not a word was said as the awkward silence permeated throughout the room. Even Disgust looked up from the manuals for a second, confused as to why the conversation had stopped.

Joy was the first to break the silence, a smile spreading across her face. "Thanks, Sadness. We're trying our hardest to make do with the situation." Sadness' lips curved upward ever so slightly, though inside, she was still getting more and more frustrated with Noah. Her anger, however, proved worthless as Noah's eyes closed and headquarters entered into an artificial night. "If all goes as planned, things will be back to normal by tomorrow."

Disgust was less enthusiastic at that statement. "Joy, there's more manuals than a day can cover."

"Well, I trust you can start with the most likely candidates," Joy said bluntly, clearly not in the mood for anyone's complaints, minus Sadness. She walked over to where Disgust had several piles of manuals to her right and left, each stack about 8 or 9 books tall.

"Here, let me put you on the right track," Joy said, looking through the piles and pulling out a particularly thick one, dusting it off, and opening it up. "Let's see here, 'Mind Manual, Volume VII: Co-worker Conundrums and How to Fix them.' How about you start on this one?" Joy handed the heavy book to Disgust, who looked at it with a sort of resentment. "If you need more help, give me a holler," Joy said before casually making her way back to the console, where a half-realistic dream was playing.

"How's the dream?" Joy asked, settling up on the console, Sadness and Fear to her left, and Anger to her right.

"Quite touching actually. It's about that one girl we had a crush on back in 6th grade. She's much nicer now, and is more appreciative of our humble kindness," Anger said, clearly immersed in the romantic dream.

"'Touching?'" Fear asked, torn between being humored and worrying about how hard Anger will punch him in the face. Despite the remark, however, Fear didn't hear anything out of him. He decided to push further. "Honestly though, this dream is kind of trashy. How do you like it?"

"Don't question me!" Anger shouted, succeeding in making Fear flinch. "I'm vulnerable," he muttered, only loud enough for himself to hear it.

While Anger and Fear fought, the dream crush on-screen grabbed Noah's hand, yanking it towards her. An upset Sadness sighed and leaned under the console, ripping open a panel.

"Out of sight, out of mind," Sadness groaned as she searched the mess of wires, pushing the curtains of red, blue, yellow, green, and purple out of the way as Sadness reached for the manual override button at the back of the console. Upon pushing the button, the dream turned off and headquarters was spared yet another reminder. Ducking out, Sadness noticed that in every other bundle of wires, there was a stray black or white wire, the contrast apparent. Sadness took note and stood up, putting the panel into place.

Upon standing up, Sadness noticed that Noah was awake again, and was now walking to her bedroom. Joy was quick to engage what he liked to call 'shower mode'.

"Okay, we're going into shower mode! I repeat, we are going into shower mode!" Joy said, serious about this menial task. Lucky for her, so were the others. Disgust slipped a bookmark into the manual and dropped it, rushing to the console.

"Let's, see, we want a white T-shirt, jeans, any form of undergarment, long socks, and…"

"Our Mackinac hoodie!" Joy said, urging Noah to pick out the thick white hoodie. Noah looked at it and smiled, as a memory was recalled, golden with a small streak of red.

* * *

It was just two months earlier in July when they got the hoodie in Mackinac Island. It was a $100 hoodie, but sales brought it down to $50.

Noah pulled the wallet out of his back pocket, fishing out $40 from it. "Hey Mom?" Noah asked, his brown eyes searching for her, "Can you possibly cash in ten bucks for this coat?"

Noah's mom was nearby and came over to the rack of coats, her son having pulled out a white hoodie with the words 'Mackinac Island' on it with black and white font. "Well, I do owe you some money, so why not? Try it on."

Noah put the hoodie on, finding it's a size or two big. Noah, however, knew what Mom would say. "I can grow into it," Noah reasoned, "After all, I kind of want a coat that I can wear through high school," he said further, taking it to the register and putting it on the counter, putting his part of the money with it.

Noah's mom followed up with the remaining money, the hoodie was bought, and despite the temperature that day, Noah instantly put it on, and knew he would at least wear it through high school. As he put it on, the tags proved to be a slight annoyance, but he managed.

"So?" Mom said, attempting to draw an opinion from her son.

"I love it," Noah said, smiling a weird, toothy smile, and continued to do so as they left for the boat back to the mitten of Michigan.

* * *

"I never liked that smile," Sadness said from the couch, flipping through The Mind Reader. "We really need to get braces so we can distinguish ourselves from a horse." Joy ignored this, as did everyone else; they knew she didn't mean it. Before long, everyone remembered why they had picked out the hoodie in the first place.

"Okay, let's go, let's go!" Joy said, the tap tap tap of her fingers on the console resonating throughout Headquarters. Noah rushed to the closet besides the bathroom and picked out a towel, rushing into the bathroom.

"Water comes on," Joy mumbled. Noah turned the knobs quickly as water rushed out of the faucet and into the tub. Noah quickly turned the knob in the middle so that the water comes out of the shower head and not the faucet. He strips down while the water warms up.

"AGH!" Anger said, as Noah reached his hand out to the touch the water, now a little too hot. "Turn that shit down!" Noah obliged quickly, and got in the shower. The warm water soothed Noah, a little too much, in Fear's opinion.

"Come on, faster, faster," Fear said, urging Noah to get through his shower as quickly as possible. The Mind's Eye was close to collapsing in on itself as the warm water ran across Noah's body. Still, though, Fear was able to keep him as awake and aware as he could possibly be.

"Remember to get the shampoo," Disgust said, and Noah quickly reached for the bottle of shampoo, squeezing it so that a liberal amount of the gellish material ends up on his hand. Disgust practically guided Noah's hands through his hair as the shampoo seeped through his hair, falling to the floor of the tub the lay below Noah's feet.

"Now for the soap," Disgust mumbled, as Noah reached for the bar of soap in front of him and scrubbed every body part he could reach… err, minus a select few.

"Okay we're clean," Joy announced as she ordered Noah to get out of the shower. Noah stands on the towel that lay on the floor and begins to dry off. The drying off takes no more than 2 minutes, and soon they are sitting on the toilet, the towel draped across the toilet cover.

"Almost done, folks. We'll be out of here in no time," Joy said as Noah reached for the pair of underwear he took from his dresser. He speedily slipped everything onto him, and finally picks up the hoodie, putting his arms through the sleeves and zipping it up.

"Okay, we are out of here. Good work guys," Joy said. Fear and Anger calmed down a little, but Disgust stayed up there. "You know what you need to do, Disgust." That was enough for Disgust.

Finally fully clothed, Noah went to the sink and picked out his toothbrush, toothpaste, and comb. After brushing his teeth, Noah worked carefully in combing his uncontrollable hair in just the way he likes.

"We don't have time for this, Disgust!" Fear yelled. "We have," Fear checks his watch, "10 minutes to be ready! It's impossible to finish at the rate you're going!"

"Oh please, Fear. Let me do my work, and you… can do whatever you do," Disgust said, her eyes locked on the screen. Finally, after another minute or two of fiddling around, Disgust stood, satisfied. "Great, we're ready. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll continue saving our butts." Disgust sauntered to the back of Headquarters, where she picked up the manual she was reading and took the bookmark out.

"Okay, are we all good?" Joy said, facing the other four emotions. Fear raised his hand, a worried look on his face. "Fear, you don't need to raise your hand," Joy sighed, a slightly annoyed chuckle escaping her lips, "but regardless, what do you need, Fear?"

"Uhh, yeah, um, we need to remember to bring our saxophone," Fear said, looking at his feet as they shifted ever so slightly. A smile conquered Joy's face.

"Oh, of course. That would be embarrassing if we were the only one without our instrument," Joy pushed a few buttons, telling Noah to put his alto sax case by the door. Noah obliged, and in 30 seconds, he was ready to walk through the door.

"Ready?" Dad said, sitting in his chair and reading a book. If Noah's alarm hadn't woken him, Dad would have, and Noah is definitely grateful for that.

"Yep, though I'm probably forgetting something, you know. It always happens the first day," Noah said, and inside his head. Anger looked to the memory in high priority as it shone slightly more than it had. He let a smile cross his lips as he read a copy of The Mind Reader alongside Sadness, while Fear was standing behind Joy, making sure to be within close proximity to the console.

And with that, Noah walked out of the door into the 30 degree weather of Farmington Hills, Michigan.


	2. Chapter 2

Upon stepping out, Noah noticed one thing and one thing only: it was really, REALLY cold. Sadness was quick to note this.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh," Sadness groaned, face first on the couch, acting as if she felt just as cold as Noah did. "This reminds me of cold in our heart. I feel such a strong connection. Ehm… would it be devastating if I… uh… pushed a button or two?" Sadness got off the couch, clearly trying to pry at the console.

"No, Sadness, we can't do that," Joy said, an annoyed expression on her face. Sadness sighed despondently and flopped back onto the couch.

"Just wait until WINTER comes around, ohhhhhh, it'll be awful!" Anger yelled, slightly reinvigorated, but he almost seemed to catch himself. "Um, I'm sorry for yelling like that."

"Anger, you're supposed to be angry. It's kind of your job," Joy said, the hope of recovery draining from her face.

"I know, but, it's just, I don't know, it doesn't feel right anymore," Anger said, sitting down on the couch and leaning forward, head in his hands. "It's almost like I'm not even Anger anymore."

"I'm afraid you can't think those thoughts, if you want Noah to be mentally stable. We can't be losing emotions as important as you," Joy said, not necessarily exasperated, but as she guided Noah down the street and to the entrance of the neighborhood, where the bus stop was, she couldn't help but feel a sort of impending doom blanket her usually happy demeanor.

After a minute or two, Noah was at the bus stop, among two others.

"Hey, look, people! Let's talk to them," Joy said, reaching for a button. Fear quickly slapped her hand out of the way.

"Joy! Have you learned anything in the last 3 years?!" Fear said, looking as if he were on the verge of a heart attack.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Fear," Joy said as her hand wavered in the air, above the button that could potentially put them in danger. She slowly put her hand back into the pocket of her hoodie and stood there awkwardly.

Silence filled headquarters as the five shivered, even Anger. It wasn't a brain freeze, but Noah was definitely feeling the cold.

After a minute of quietly freezing, the bus comes into view. Joy is strangely reinvigorated by this, and let's a smile seep onto Noah's face. "Alright! We can finally step onto the bus, get a seat, and we can be nice and warm," Joy said, pushing her positive attitude to its limits, but nevertheless, happy that refuge awaits.

The bus seems to take forever as it slows to a stop in front of Noah and his peers. He lets the other two step onto the bus, then steps up the stairs onto the bus. It only took a glance for Noah to realize:

"This is the last stop on the route," a befuddled Anger said, clearly not expecting this, "which means we're going to have an allotment of _assholes_ taking up one seat!" Anger got off the couch and stomped his way to the console, loosening his tie. "Well, if I see one single jerk deny us a seat, I will personally rip out their intestines and wear it like a necklace!" Despite the threats, Joy was honestly just happy that Anger was back

Noah walked down the bus aisle, and was going to sit down at a seat near the back when a voice said "Eww, get your cracker ass away from me!"

Anger responded healthily enough.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh? Well, your ****** ass can take this!" Anger screamed as he thrust forward the handlebars, fire spewing out of his head like a volcano. The other emotions cringed at the vulgarity, but were still happy that Anger was once again a well oiled -

"Fine," Noah said, annoyed, as he got up from his seat and sat down next to Delwaun, an acquaintance from previous years of school.

Machine…

"What…?" Anger gaped, a confused look on his face. He looked at his bulky hands, the hands that had started such wonderful arguments and even guided a few punches. "Not even a rebuttal?" He looked up, lost, and didn't even move until Sadness ushered him to the couch, her empathetic caring side taking over. Sadness was quite shocked herself as hot tears fled out of Anger's eyes, quickly evaporating into the air. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that it would destroy the remnants of Anger's ego if anyone found out, so Sadness kept quiet for his sake.

Silence conquered headquarters for several minutes, as if time stopped in Noah's head. Joy stood at the helm, Fear cautiously watching her. Disgust was sat at the back, surrounded by her throne of manuals, flipping through, bored out of her and Noah's mind. Anger and Sadness sat together, Sadness trying to comfort Anger, but having trouble in confidently doing so. Don't think the wrong thoughts, Sadness likes Anger, but not like that, and she would rather not have Anger think that.

The bus pulled into the bus lanes of Harrison high school, indistinguishable from any of the other busses. It slowed to a stop, the doors opened, and the students filed out one by one, giving the vibe of a prison. Heck, even the school looked like a prison, with 3 giant brick towers on either side of a main block where all the classes were, along with the cafeteria and gym.

"You know, I heard the person who designed this school also designed prisons," Fear said, obviously intimidated.

"Probably because this is the druggie school," Disgust said, mostly invested in the manual, but willing to talk.

"Wait, we aren't going to become druggies, are we?" Fear said, suddenly much more worried.

"I wouldn't worry about it. We can easily handle stress without drugs," Joy said, a confident smile on her face. The smile faded after a second or two, however, as Joy thought about how awful Sadness might get. "I think," she mumbled under her breath; she never did like to lie.

"I'd like to hear you say that when finals come around," Sadness says, a slight smirk on her face, now recovering from the early morning cold.

"Is that a threat, Sadness?" Joy asked, her eyes locked on the mind's eye, on the brink of yelling at Sadness.

"No, the finals will just magically make Noah want to take drugs," Sadness said, clearly switching to her darker side. The sarcasm proved in annoying Joy further, but she composed herself.

"I'm getting some vibes that you don't like me," Joy said, turning from the console.

"Joy…" Fear said, clearly worried about something.

"Not now, Fear," Joy said, dismissing Fears concerns. Sadness glanced at the console , making sure to maintain her expression; she nearly smirked when she saw what was on the screen:

Noah was the ONLY one to bring his instrument.

' _If I can just distract them for long enough_ ' Sadness thought, giving her words some thought before replying to Joy's comment.

"You know, that's the first thing you've been right about in three years," Sadness said, trying not to grin and give herself away. Joy looked furious, but again, calmed herself to some degree.

"Sadness, I'm just trying to do my job, so can you please stop trying to undermine my every effort?" Joy said, her eyes closed, taking deep breaths.

"What effort? You've done nothing since you fucked up in 6th grade," Sadness said, a smirk growing on her face.

Joy didn't even reply, she looked ready to kill whoever talked next.

"Joy, I know what she's doing, and I think we all need to sit down, have a drink or two, and-" Before Fear could finish, Joy had punched him right on the temple, knocking him out. His scrawny body lay sprawled on the floor.

Joy took a ragged breath, clearly angry, but composed herself. "I think I should lie down," she said, calmer than before as she walked quietly up the stairs to the house that lay on the side of headquarters, her head drooping, not seeing what she's done.

This left Disgust distracted in her reading, Anger crying, Fear knocked out, and Joy in another room.

Sadness smiled an eager grin and walked up to the console. Looking like a kid at a candy store, she greedily began to tap all of the buttons in her reach, pushing and pulling a lever or two. The voices began, much like the one that the emotions had heard that morning. This time however, there were multiple different voices.

"Just wait until you actually have to use your brain," one voice mocked.

"Ooh, he brought his saxophone. I wonder if the monkey will play a song if we give him a banana," another voice jeered.

As the voices built up, both Anger and Disgust began to notice what Sadness was doing, but it was already too late. Sadness was already halfway through the transformation, her skin white and her hair black. The sweatshirt and her sweatpants merged, the seams disappearing and appearing magically, until it became an ominous black cloak. Before, Sadness was a chubby girl in baggy attire, but now, she looked like the female version of death.

Anger wiped away his tears and gathered his courage, walking up to the console. "So Sadness-"

"I prefer the name Depression now," "Depression" corrected, her eyes locked on the monitor, her expression bored at best.

Anger guffawed at the ridiculous sight of this teenage goth-esque girl in front of her. "Alright, _Depression_ , I think you've had enough time on the console for one day," he said, grabbing Depression by the shoulders. She didn't budge.

"If you really expect me to be done with Noah, you've got another thing coming," Depression said, her hands swiftly flew from button to button, her expression seemingly stuck as the voices continued, growing more and more sinister with each passing moment.

One just flat-out said, "Kill yourself."

Anger was tired of Depression's' stubbornness, and began pulling her away from the console by the shoulders. She quickly rebutted by kicking Anger's knee in, stunning him for a few seconds. She then grabbed him by his shoulders, staring into his eyes.

"YOU SHALL NOT DEFY ME!" Depression screamed as Anger felt something drain from him. Disgust gasped as the color drained from Anger, his deep red paling more and more until it was entirely white. He collapsed on the floor and groaned, clearly in pain.

Depression seemed to grow more powerful after assaulting Anger like that. She grew taller and leaner, becoming a much more menacing figure. The skin on her right arm even turned a shade of deep red. She looked down upon Anger and laughed maniacally.

"I hoped this provides an example of what happens when you face Depression!" Depression yelled, hoping that everyone, perhaps even an unconscious Fear, would hear and heed her warning. Disgust did not attempt to assault Depression directly, and instead, continued to search for a solution to this madness.

" _How could so much happen in so little time?_ " Disgust thought, a feeling of dread enveloping her usual snobbish manner. She only hoped that the days to come would see a resolution.


	3. Chapter 3 (IMPORTANT NEWS)

Joy sat in the corner of her room, her thoughts drifting rapidly, so much so that she didn't hear the commotion outside of her abode.

' _How did she do that?'_ Joy asked herself, ' _she's never been so aggressive before.'_ Joy got up after a lot of consideration, but hesitated to go back outside. ' _There are just so many things that could hurt me out there: Sadness; possibly Fear. Maybe I should stay in here a while while things cool down outside,'_ she thought before walking back to the corner where she previously was and sitting down. ' _I mean, it's not like the end of the world will happen while I'm gone,'_ she thought as tiredness overtook and claimed her. She sat in the corner, snoring loudly, oblivious to what was transpiring outside.

Disgust was unable to concentrate as she became ever more-so aware that she was alone with… this _thing_. This monster hidden behind a civil facade, a representation of death itself, her right hand a livid shade of red, just itching to hold a much-deserving scythe. Disgust managed to chuckle at herself; she always did have poetic tendencies. She brought herself to reality, however, as she continued to eye Depression with a suspicious glance.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Disgust," Depression said, half bored, half indignant. "That is, until you attempt to hurt me."

"Understood," Disgust said, unsure of whether to side with this creature or risk being powerless.

"So what do you think?" Depression says, her hands hovering above the console, stopped only for a second. "Should we go talk with the kids from East?"

"I-" Disgust said.

"Talking it is!" Depression yelled, her right hand, infused with the essence of Anger, crashing into an array of buttons.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Noah stood awkwardly by his instrument case. ' _Come on, go talk; do_ something _other than standing around like you shit your pants,'_ he told himself, ' _but not before I can find Mr. Yoder.'_ Noah searched for Mr. Yoder, the band director, and upon seeing a tall lanky man with a balding head and a disfigured nose, he figured that was the man he was looking for. He made his way over to him, the black leather case swinging awkwardly as he moved. In a matter of seconds, he found himself in front of Mr. Yoder.

"Hi. Mr. Yoder, right?" Noah said, pulling out the schedule he had in his hand and scanning the name. ' _Why did you ask if you were going to check the schedule, genius?'_ He thought, his self-esteem dropping quickly.

"Yeah, that's me. What do you need?" Mr. Yoder said, his kind face searching Noah almost judgmentally - at least, that's how Noah is seeing it. Mr. Yoder noticed the case in Noah's hand and understanding conquered his expression. "Oh, don't worry. We get a few people every year who bring their cases. Just put it in my office; we'll be handing out band lockers tomorrow, so you're good," Mr. Yoder said, his finger pointing to the small room adjacent to the bandroom; his office.

Noah quickly went over and entered the office, put his case down next to the door, and left just as quickly. ' _Well, I guess we fixed that issue. Disaster averted,'_ Noah thought to himself as he made his way over to his friends from East…

Well…

Friends is a loose term, to say the least. Noah and the students were in a mutual relationship of tolerance. Did he ever want to make friends? Hell yes! However, Noah has had problems with talking ever since-

' _Exposition, exposition. Can you not write like a fucking monkey at a typewriter, please?'_ Noah found himself thinking as his hands hovered over the keyboard. ' _Oh, so now we're breaking the 4th wall. We're not Deadpool, you idiot!'_ Noah thought as he quickly brought the story back to its original plot.

As Noah made his way over to his "friends," Fear was starting to come to, and quickly understood the situation. It only took a look up to see the threatening black figure of Depression towering over him. He whimpered and whined as he found himself stumbling to the back where Disgust sat, blankly staring at the page in front of her, her thoughts running amuck.

"We need to do something!" Fear mumbled under his breath, his eyes bulging out of his head - erm, more than usual, that is.

"No," Disgust replied, "We can't mess with her. Otherwise, she'll take our influence," she said, motioning to Anger, a pale mess lying on the ground in a fetal position, no doubt crying his eyes out. Fear winced, finding it hard to look at what used to be a confident and assertive hothead, reduced to nothing.

"Well, what do we do? We can't just let her kill Noah-" Fear said, when Depression entered the conversation.

"I won't kill Noah provided he doesn't deserve it," Depression says, emotionlessly tapping away at the keyboard section of the console, making sure to carefully enunciate every word as Noah conversed with his peers.

Band chairs were set up in a circle as 4 sat, talking. Noah, one of these four, was the least talkative, and barely added anything to the conversation. Noah simply watched as the three messed around with each other.

When Derek, both the shortest and nicest of the three, stood up and walked away to drink from the water fountain, the other two, Emma and Ryan, decidedly assholes in Noah's eyes, dug through his backpack and found his phone. They kept typing random numbers into the keypad until they were locked out of the phone. Noah simply rolled his eyes, having seen this on many an occasion; he was fed up with this kind of behavior.

"Really, guys?" Noah said, clearly annoyed with both Emma and Ryan. "You do realize that acting like 5th graders isn't really acceptable when you get into high school, right?"

Emma and Ryan both gave Noah the evil eye. "You're no fun, you know," Ryan said, his voice slurred, as if he were consistently drunk. "Like, it'll only be locked for a few minutes."

Noah found himself unable to speak. He could've easily retorted, provided he could piece the words together, but something is just compelling him to keep quiet.

Depression looked, a bored expression as always, at the purple hand grasped around the center handlebar.

"Fear…" Depression warned, a glint of patient annoyance in her eyes, "Do you really want to end up like your friend over there?" Depression pointed to the heartless remains of a once livid Anger.

"He was your friend, too!" Fear retorted, already done with Depression's hostage of the console.

"That does not change the fact that he committed treason against me," Depression said, raising her voice as she became increasingly aggravated by Fear. "Now do you wish to be a husk of your former self or not?" Depression paused for a second, then mumbled under her breath, "I mean, it's not like you're losing much."

This was the straw that broke the camel's back for Fear. He jumped onto the back of Depression and began to hook his arms around her throat in an attempt to choke her. "DISGUST! ANY ASSISTANCE WOULD BE NICE RIGHT NOW!"

Disgust decided that, for her sake, being the last one to die was worse than getting punished, and quickly ran to aid Fear. She stopped about halfway before she realized, ' _Where the_ fuck _is Joy?'_ Quick to act upon her actions, she quickly made a detour and ran up the steps to the tiny house that was the sleeping grounds of the emotions.

"DISGUST! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Fear continued to scream as he struggled to keep Sadness in a choke-hold. However, it was to no avail as he kept slipping his grip and allowing Depression a few breaths before he tightened it again.

"I need to get Joy! I know how to fix this!" Disgust said, busting through the door and rushing for Joy's room. Also, no, the book did jack shit in helping Disgust, so she only assumed this was at least somewhat of a rare occurrence. However, she did have an idea.

"Joy! Joy!" Disgust yelled, opening the door to Joy's room. Joy was startled awake from her spot in the corner of the room.

"What?" Joy questioned rudely, not appreciating the untimely wakeup call. "Can't you see that I'm busy sleeping here?"

Disgust let this slide for now. "Not now, Joy. Depression is currently being choked out by Fear, and I need you to help fix it."

Joy looked really confused for a second. "Who's Depression?"

"No time for questions. We need to move! Fear can only hold her off for so long!"

Joy, reinvigorated with the sense of urgency, stood up and was out the door in seconds.

 **A/N: Hey guys. Look; an Author's Note. Yeah, sorry about being neglectful on this part, but I do answer all the questions you provide for me in the Review and Reply Archive. By the way, if you have a problem with the story so far, be sure to review, because no logical criticism will genuinely hurt me. Anyway, thank you for being so patient right now. I'm fairly sure this is coming out along with Chapter 4 of The Rest, Inside Out, so you'll be dealing with TWO stories. I spoil you guys way too much. Anyway, see you soon.**

 **P.S. Switched is currently put on hold while I put my life together. Hopefully I can come back to this story, but I might also have to rewrite it entirely, because the pacing is awful.**


	4. Review and Reply Archive

Supreme-Chickenlord reviews:

"I like the story so far, but Sadness' progression into Depression seemed a little too fast. Other than that, I love the way it is written, and I hope you continue."

I reply:

Hey Chickenlord! It's glad to see some familiar fans reviewing my work. In advance, I apologize for not uploading this week; I've been battling a bit of hardcore depression. Note that I'm saying it's hardcore right now. Depression fluctuates, both as the personification and the disorder. This means you will likely see Anger retrieve his emotional aura sometime in the future. Thus, we will see Depression rise and fall many times in this story, so Sadness' quick transition into Depression is slightly understandable now. Also, while I too feel Depression came around too quickly, without the conflict, the story would simply be a few chapters of "Sadness is super angsty and stuff." I simply couldn't keep it going on that without risking the little quality that I have in my writing. Also, to clarify, I'm going to flat out say I loved the way Sadness gave herself freedom at the console, the way all of the emotions were in their own world, whether conscious or not (Wow, that sounds REALLY narcissistic; not going to do that again.) Anyway, thanks for reviewing this. I'll try to keep up with myself, but you won't get another chapter of Switched for a little while. Again, I'm sorry for the delay, so be patient please. Depression is just a giant ball-and-chain when it comes to both my writing and my music.

Supreme-Chickenlord replies:

"It's perfectly fine, thank you for the reply! It wasn't meant to be an impatient comment, just more of an, "I hope you don't lose confidence in the story and continue elaborating on the concept." Also, I wish I could say more of your depression other than the usual "I hope you feel better," but I'm afraid my mind cannot come up with anything at the moment, and so I apologize. Also, Joy's angry episode seemed little bit inspired by the one from one of my fanfictions. I'm probably just drawing connections though, but if I'm not, then I hope to continue to be an inspiration. Thank you for reading."

I reply:

Don't get worked up over my depression, really. I've been depressed for over three years about now, as I said, in fluctuating amounts.

Yeah, sorry, I actually haven't read any of your fics, but I'll be sure to check them out.

Anyway, besides that, I've been trying to make Joy a little more of a character. They do that in the movie, but they drive her joyful side a little too much, in my opinion. However, it should be understood that my Joy is different from Inside Out's Joy. I wanted her to be a much more relaxed character; tranquil, if you will. However, she still has a bit of the peppy control freak in her, though, so when things go out of control, she switches a little (no pun intended) to that mindset. Obviously, this bit of control freakish nature was her original personality, given the happy nature of most children. What changed this? Well, simply putting, it-

CONNECTION LOST


End file.
